User Reviews (63)

I have liked this fork ever since I found the right setting. (Slowest rebound screw 5 truns out). I am rebuilding it and adding the oil bath upgrade this week end. Be carfull of tightng the air valve to tight or the threads will strip. I would still like to try a SID you can get them for the same price on sale, but from the reviews they are flexy which is why I chose the XMO and I dont regret it at all.

Similar Products Used:
Manitou FS, AMP

OVERALLRATING

4

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

4

★★★★★

★★★★★

Ducky Cross Country Rider

[Dec 17, 2001]

Strength:

Stiff, light and plush for an air fork.

Weakness:
Air pressure needs to be just right. Internals are plastic.

I have liked this fork ever since I found the right setting. (Slowest rebound screw 5 truns out). I am rebuilding it and adding the oil bath upgrade this week end. Be carfull of tightng the air valve to tight or the threads will strip. I would still like to try a SID you can get them for the same price on sale, but from the reviews they are flexy which is why I chose the XMO and I dont regret it at all.

Similar Products Used:
Manitou FS, AMP

OVERALLRATING

4

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

4

★★★★★

★★★★★

Slow Ryda
Cross Country Rider [Jan 14, 2002]

Strength:

Reasonably durable. Only a slight leak in one of the cartridges after two years. Nice pump comes with it. Reasonably stiff. Not Rock Shox.

Weakness:

Weight greater than advertised (3.32 lbs uncut on a lab balance). Oil bath doesn't do squat. Can't set up with sag. No negative spring, regardless of what Eko says. Doesn't respond at all to chatter.

The fork is ok. It would be fine for racing, as it doesn't bob too much. The adjustments work, particularly the rebound. I use the slow rebound adjusters, 6-7 turns out. I usually use ~150 psi in each leg (I weigh ~180). The big problem is the lack of a negative spring. The fork doesn't sag at all for me, and I have a long low stem, and generally weight the front end of my bike quite a bit, as it's a hard tail. Subsequently, the fork is completely stiff over fast chatter bumps, which gets old. I once lowered the pressure to ~140 lbs, and the fork was floppier than a wherehouse mattress. I bought the open oil bath kit, but save your money. For 10 bucks or so, you get a cheap plastic syringe, and some new bolts for the lowers that supposedly seal better. And directions telling you to add 10-15 mL oil to each leg. The new bolts aren't worth it. The don't seal any better than the old ones. Don't add too much oil, cuz the fork will lock up.Bottom line: Ok fork, reliable, reasonably stiff, but it ain't the best out there by a long shot. And not as light as they say.

Similar Products Used:
mars, z5

OVERALLRATING

3

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

4

★★★★★

★★★★★

Slow Ryda Cross Country Rider

[Jan 14, 2002]

Strength:

Reasonably durable. Only a slight leak in one of the cartridges after two years. Nice pump comes with it. Reasonably stiff. Not Rock Shox.

Weakness:
Weight greater than advertised (3.32 lbs uncut on a lab balance). Oil bath doesn't do squat. Can't set up with sag. No negative spring, regardless of what Eko says. Doesn't respond at all to chatter.

The fork is ok. It would be fine for racing, as it doesn't bob too much. The adjustments work, particularly the rebound. I use the slow rebound adjusters, 6-7 turns out. I usually use ~150 psi in each leg (I weigh ~180). The big problem is the lack of a negative spring. The fork doesn't sag at all for me, and I have a long low stem, and generally weight the front end of my bike quite a bit, as it's a hard tail. Subsequently, the fork is completely stiff over fast chatter bumps, which gets old. I once lowered the pressure to ~140 lbs, and the fork was floppier than a wherehouse mattress. I bought the open oil bath kit, but save your money. For 10 bucks or so, you get a cheap plastic syringe, and some new bolts for the lowers that supposedly seal better. And directions telling you to add 10-15 mL oil to each leg. The new bolts aren't worth it. The don't seal any better than the old ones. Don't add too much oil, cuz the fork will lock up.Bottom line: Ok fork, reliable, reasonably stiff, but it ain't the best out there by a long shot. And not as light as they say.

Similar Products Used:
mars, z5

OVERALLRATING

3

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

4

★★★★★

★★★★★

smokey strodtman
Cross Country Rider [Jul 12, 2002]

Strength:

light weight, adjustability, durability, appearance, steers and tracks well with no slop.

Weakness:

none, if you can live without a "name brand" fork.

today i disassembled this fork for service after 2 years of use. other than cleaning out a little dirty grease, there was virtually no wear on the bushings, seals, or other internals. i re-assembled it with some slick honey, aired it up, and went riding. one of the MTB magazines stated in a suspension article last year that the "big name" forks were the only ones worth considering. then i read in here about sloppy rockshox bushings, fox seal leaks, and other problems (of course, they say hardtails are dead, too. funny how every time i see roland green and alison dunlap winning, they're on one of those "dead" MTBs). makes me glad i don't believe everything i read in those comic books. the RST has been a darn good fork for me; i have no complaints and would gladly buy one again.

Similar Products Used:
stock RST 281.

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

smokey strodtman Cross Country Rider

[Jul 12, 2002]

Strength:

light weight, adjustability, durability, appearance, steers and tracks well with no slop.

Weakness:
none, if you can live without a "name brand" fork.

today i disassembled this fork for service after 2 years of use. other than cleaning out a little dirty grease, there was virtually no wear on the bushings, seals, or other internals. i re-assembled it with some slick honey, aired it up, and went riding. one of the MTB magazines stated in a suspension article last year that the "big name" forks were the only ones worth considering. then i read in here about sloppy rockshox bushings, fox seal leaks, and other problems (of course, they say hardtails are dead, too. funny how every time i see roland green and alison dunlap winning, they're on one of those "dead" MTBs). makes me glad i don't believe everything i read in those comic books. the RST has been a darn good fork for me; i have no complaints and would gladly buy one again.

Similar Products Used:
stock RST 281.

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

Joe H
Cross Country Rider [Oct 14, 2002]

Strength:

Light weight, pretty good stiffness, low maintenance.

Weakness:

None

After 2 and a half years of use, I thought I'd update my review. So far I love this fork. The "lawyer tabs" on the drop-outs were filed off long ago and with disk brakes, nothing is quicker in terms of getting that front wheel off and on. One of the legs has a slight air leak - but not fast enough to replace it yet. Maintenance has been nothing but a good cleaning once in a while and a little lube (WD-40, slider greese, whatever) under the dust boots. This was and is a great product for the price.

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

Joe H Cross Country Rider

[Oct 14, 2002]

Strength:

Light weight, pretty good stiffness, low maintenance.

Weakness:
None

After 2 and a half years of use, I thought I'd update my review. So far I love this fork. The "lawyer tabs" on the drop-outs were filed off long ago and with disk brakes, nothing is quicker in terms of getting that front wheel off and on. One of the legs has a slight air leak - but not fast enough to replace it yet. Maintenance has been nothing but a good cleaning once in a while and a little lube (WD-40, slider greese, whatever) under the dust boots. This was and is a great product for the price.

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

mike the bike
Cross Country Rider [Jul 29, 2001]

Strength:

decent price, low maintenance, fairly durable, light

Weakness:

not quite as stiff as I expected (but still not flexy), a lot longer than the orig. Quadra, internal damping adjustment

I bought this fork when a compression cap on the Quadra blew off after landing a jump and hit me in the chest. Thanks, Rock Shox. I wanted a light fork for a good $, so I bought this. All I have to say is that I have not encountered any problems w/ this fork. The manual does not recommend using more than 200 psi in the cartridges. When I first got the fork, I weighed around 210, and I was accustomed to a rigid fork. I ran up to 240 psi (along with the fastest rebound setting) in each side with absolutely no problems. Honest to Allah, I would not lie to you. I abused this fork by jumping and landing with a lot of weight toward the front and never "blew-out" the cartridges. The fork does require a break-in period before the stiction decreases greatly. A little Slick Honey/Judy Butter improves performance a lot. As for air leakage, no problems there, never. I currently weigh 190 and have gotten used to a real suspension fork, so I run 180 psi with medium rebound. I set my fork up for bigger bumps and don't worry about roots. It is not the plushest fork out there, but I don't have to mess w/ damping oil, either. I haven't torn down the fork yet. I am sure once that is done, and everything cleaned and lubed, it will perform even better. If you are looking for a cheap, light-weight and low maintenance fork, I would give this one a try. It has performed well.

Similar Products Used:
orig. RS Quadra, Indy XC, Manitous, Sid 100

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

mike the bike Cross Country Rider

[Jul 29, 2001]

Strength:

decent price, low maintenance, fairly durable, light

Weakness:
not quite as stiff as I expected (but still not flexy), a lot longer than the orig. Quadra, internal damping adjustment

I bought this fork when a compression cap on the Quadra blew off after landing a jump and hit me in the chest. Thanks, Rock Shox. I wanted a light fork for a good $, so I bought this. All I have to say is that I have not encountered any problems w/ this fork. The manual does not recommend using more than 200 psi in the cartridges. When I first got the fork, I weighed around 210, and I was accustomed to a rigid fork. I ran up to 240 psi (along with the fastest rebound setting) in each side with absolutely no problems. Honest to Allah, I would not lie to you. I abused this fork by jumping and landing with a lot of weight toward the front and never "blew-out" the cartridges. The fork does require a break-in period before the stiction decreases greatly. A little Slick Honey/Judy Butter improves performance a lot. As for air leakage, no problems there, never. I currently weigh 190 and have gotten used to a real suspension fork, so I run 180 psi with medium rebound. I set my fork up for bigger bumps and don't worry about roots. It is not the plushest fork out there, but I don't have to mess w/ damping oil, either. I haven't torn down the fork yet. I am sure once that is done, and everything cleaned and lubed, it will perform even better. If you are looking for a cheap, light-weight and low maintenance fork, I would give this one a try. It has performed well.

Similar Products Used:
orig. RS Quadra, Indy XC, Manitous, Sid 100

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

ozzierider visocnik
Cross Country Rider [Mar 13, 2001]

Strength:

Cheaper then competition, that was at the time of purchase.Supposedly tunability...

Weakness:

Loose bushings, air spring rate way too linear, weak design

I was fooled by the reviews...i guess it does not always work out. The fork was cheper then something similar, at the time. It was ok, just ok, for a couple of months, while my wife was riding it (120lbs) then I put it on my bike (I am 220lbs) and everithing went south.First I blew the seals of the total air cartridge, got new ones under warranty, blew them again. Got "second" generation total air cartridges, still leaking...The bushing developped a lot of play; RST change them but the fork has now excessive sticktion. In other words: the fork sux, no matter what you do wiyh it.Bottoms out too easily (even if you set it up with excessive pressure)is a pain to tune( which is fairly inefective) and has got too many problems.Buy a Sid XC, SL or whatever; or a coil one to be on the safe side...

Similar Products Used:
Sid xc, manitou sx-r

OVERALLRATING

1

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

2

★★★★★

★★★★★

ozzierider visocnik Cross Country Rider

[Mar 13, 2001]

Strength:

Cheaper then competition, that was at the time of purchase.Supposedly tunability...

Weakness:
Loose bushings, air spring rate way too linear, weak design

I was fooled by the reviews...i guess it does not always work out. The fork was cheper then something similar, at the time. It was ok, just ok, for a couple of months, while my wife was riding it (120lbs) then I put it on my bike (I am 220lbs) and everithing went south.First I blew the seals of the total air cartridge, got new ones under warranty, blew them again. Got "second" generation total air cartridges, still leaking...The bushing developped a lot of play; RST change them but the fork has now excessive sticktion. In other words: the fork sux, no matter what you do wiyh it.Bottoms out too easily (even if you set it up with excessive pressure)is a pain to tune( which is fairly inefective) and has got too many problems.Buy a Sid XC, SL or whatever; or a coil one to be on the safe side...

Similar Products Used:
Sid xc, manitou sx-r

OVERALLRATING

1

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

2

★★★★★

★★★★★

Mark
Cross-Country Rider [Jul 19, 1999]

Strength:

Really nice feel. I had a Rock Shox Judy XC before this and these forks make all the difference in the world.....saved me on a fast downhill too.

Weakness:

None so far

Great fork for the $$$. This is my first air cartridge fork and I love it.

Similar Products Used:
Rock Shox....various

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

★★★★★

★★★★★

Mark Cross-Country Rider

[Jul 19, 1999]

Strength:

Really nice feel. I had a Rock Shox Judy XC before this and these forks make all the difference in the world.....saved me on a fast downhill too.

Weakness:
None so far

Great fork for the $$$. This is my first air cartridge fork and I love it.

Similar Products Used:
Rock Shox....various

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

★★★★★

★★★★★

Ozzierider
Weekend Warrior [Sep 15, 2000]

Strength:

Light (claimed, not actual) tunability

Weakness:

England cartridges and bushings

What is this? How come I seem to be the only one with a problem with the fork? One of the cartridges leaked from new, replaced in 3 days by XMO (kudos). Leaked again in a 24 hour race and rode last lap with no spring (like the good old days on a rigid fork...)Got new cartridge from XMO in a couple of days (hey that's what I call customer service) but with faulty unit again!I finally saw the Totalair guys at the Norba event in Mammoth and after inspection of the cartridges they admitted the units were faulty and will send me new ones (redesigned). About the bushings: never really good from starters, too much play; but even more noticeable now after a fair bit of riding. I guess the XMO people have to spend few more years in the R&D before the product will rule.For now is O.K. but not brilliant.I will give the fork a low score, so when people scroll through the reviews will maybe notice that there are some problems with the XMO. Hey, is not all good..

Similar Products Used:
Headshok SL (air) and Lefty (air)

OVERALLRATING

1

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

2

★★★★★

★★★★★

Ozzierider Weekend Warrior

[Sep 15, 2000]

Strength:

Light (claimed, not actual) tunability

Weakness:
England cartridges and bushings

What is this? How come I seem to be the only one with a problem with the fork? One of the cartridges leaked from new, replaced in 3 days by XMO (kudos). Leaked again in a 24 hour race and rode last lap with no spring (like the good old days on a rigid fork...)Got new cartridge from XMO in a couple of days (hey that's what I call customer service) but with faulty unit again!I finally saw the Totalair guys at the Norba event in Mammoth and after inspection of the cartridges they admitted the units were faulty and will send me new ones (redesigned). About the bushings: never really good from starters, too much play; but even more noticeable now after a fair bit of riding. I guess the XMO people have to spend few more years in the R&D before the product will rule.For now is O.K. but not brilliant.I will give the fork a low score, so when people scroll through the reviews will maybe notice that there are some problems with the XMO. Hey, is not all good..

Similar Products Used:
Headshok SL (air) and Lefty (air)

OVERALLRATING

1

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

2

★★★★★

★★★★★

DEAN
Cross Country Rider [Sep 14, 2000]

Strength:

LIGHT,RIGID,EXCELLENT FORK ONCE YOU FINE TUNE IT.VERY GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE

Weakness:

FORK BOOTS,TAKING OFF CARTRIDGE CAN BE A PAIN SOMETIMES,VERY SMALL PARTS LIKE ADJUSTER SPRING,AND COMPRESSION VALVES.

I LEARNED TOP LOVE THIS FORK AFTER PLAYING WITH THE INTERNALS AND TUNING IT MYSELF.I PUT ABOUT 140 PSI AND USE #2 ADJUSTER,NOW I GET A VERY PLUSH RIDE WITHOUT ANY FLEX.GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE TOO.WISH I CAN TAKE THE FORK BOOTS OFF BUT I CALLED RST AND TOLD ME TO KEEP THEM ON.

Similar Products Used:
SID XC,JUDY SL,MR. T,F3

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

DEAN Cross Country Rider

[Sep 14, 2000]

Strength:

LIGHT,RIGID,EXCELLENT FORK ONCE YOU FINE TUNE IT.VERY GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE

Weakness:
FORK BOOTS,TAKING OFF CARTRIDGE CAN BE A PAIN SOMETIMES,VERY SMALL PARTS LIKE ADJUSTER SPRING,AND COMPRESSION VALVES.

I LEARNED TOP LOVE THIS FORK AFTER PLAYING WITH THE INTERNALS AND TUNING IT MYSELF.I PUT ABOUT 140 PSI AND USE #2 ADJUSTER,NOW I GET A VERY PLUSH RIDE WITHOUT ANY FLEX.GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE TOO.WISH I CAN TAKE THE FORK BOOTS OFF BUT I CALLED RST AND TOLD ME TO KEEP THEM ON.

Similar Products Used:
SID XC,JUDY SL,MR. T,F3

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

Mike
Cross Country Rider [May 29, 2000]

Strength:

weightpriceperformance

Weakness:

none

You can't beat this fork for the money. It is plush for an air fork. It holds air pretty well (doesn't leak out in one day like some). It also comes with it's own air pump which is cool. It just plain looks and works great. Can get it at Universal for $240.

Similar Products Used:
Rock Shox Judy XC

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

Mike Cross Country Rider

[May 29, 2000]

Strength:

weightpriceperformance

Weakness:
none

You can't beat this fork for the money. It is plush for an air fork. It holds air pretty well (doesn't leak out in one day like some). It also comes with it's own air pump which is cool. It just plain looks and works great. Can get it at Universal for $240.